THE LONGEST DAY - NO, WW II Newsreel Footage!

Rating: Null/10 (22 July 2011)

Darryl F. Zanuck's THE LONGEST DAY - NO, WW II Newsreel Footage!
You make the same mistake that people did after view the movie in 1962-63, by your statement, Donald J. Lamb's "Some good war sequences mixed with stock footage of WWII effectively present a version of D-Day, June of 1944", and kenobi7's "the great action pieces, the use of actual footage from the invasion." Zanuck did not use any stock war footage, as he stated "he would not, no newsreels footage. Those insertion in the film that look real, are from a larger (10 days) shoot of realistic mock landings and events by Landing Force Mediterranean "LFM-1-61", 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division on Corsica in 1961. We had a lot of single and group shooting on the ships and shore with Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Eddy Albert (USN-Navy Cross, Tarawa 1943), etc., but these were cut because after film development, our Sateen Green Utilities (fatigues) when wet after being dropped off short of the beaches, were too dark to double as WW II Army brown fatigues. So, Zanuck had to re-shoot a cheaper landing version with actual U.S. Army troops later that year, and they were criticized by a lot of actors (War Veterans) as not being realistic and frighten getting into and out of the landing craft. Zanuck, did keep to Cornelius Ryan's story as close as possible. My biggest mistake is having read the book in 1959, and had my copy (1st hard back edition) with me, I did not get C. Ryan, Zanuck, and the actors present to sign it. Thanks for your comments, John J. Kline, Philadelphia, PA